Starting Solid Foods

As soon as your baby begins to take a real interest in solid foods, it is time to get organized so that meals are quick and easy for you and comfortable for him. This is no longer a tiny baby to be held on your lap to suck a tiny portion of puree off a spoon. This is a person who is going to eat with gusto. Your baby still needs to be held and closely cuddled while sucking, but the rest of the time a chair will be more comfortable and will leave you freer to help him and get things you have forgotten! There is going to be a fantastic mess too, so instead of trying to prevent it, organize things so it does not bother you. There is a lot of baby-feeding equipment on the market, but here are some types to guide you. Choose carefully - this equipment is going to be around for more than a year. 

Bibs

• The ideal bib. Its stiff plastic cannot smother. It has no strings to tangle, and spills are caught in the pocket, not in the lap. It's available also in disposable form. 

• Terrycloth or fabric bibs look pretty but need constant laundering. 

• Thin plastic bibs are best avoided - the strings tangle and the baby might smother. 

High chair

There are many high chairs available. Spread newspaper underneath at mealtimes. A plastic sheet looks more elegant but needs washing instead of just throwing away. You are now all set for maximum fun and minimum mess. . . .  

Baby seat 

Easy to adjust for the youngest baby, and with its own clip-on tray, this seat is ideal for early meals.  

Dishes

In this dish you can serve two things separately, while the warm water compartment keeps food warm. It has a suction cup on the bottom so the baby cannot turn it over. Ordinary plastic dishes will do, of course, but they are all too good as hats. . . .  

Cups

• A training cup is easy to hold, easy to drink from, and will not spill. The worst it can do is drip. . . .  

• This mug makes it easy for the baby to get the angle right, but it is weighted and heavy to handle. 

• A mug without a lid? Then it must be for pouring. . . .

Helping Your Baby to Eat

Try to think of yourself as helping the baby to eat rather than feeding her. Once she sits up to meals she will certainly want to join in with her hands as well as her mouth. Let her dabble and smear, dip her fingers in the dish and suck them and try to find out what a spoon is for. It is messy but it is vitally important. The more she feels that what she eats is under her own control rather than simply being ladled into her, the more she will enjoy the whole eating-game. The more she enjoys it now, the less trouble you are likely to have later with fads and food refusal. And lots of practice now means that she will be able to feed herself completely independently at an early age.

So try not to boss her. Skin washes, her bib protects clothes, and paper protects the floor; let her dig in and enjoy herself. 

• Don't discourage any method of getting food from plate to mouth. Enthusiasm is what matters.  

• Let her have her own spoon; only by playing with it can she learn to use it. 

• When she knows what it is for but cannot get a load to her mouth, fill yours and swap it for her empty one. 

Finger-Foods

Foods that are meant for fingers are good for morale; they make eating easy and fun. Hard foods are good for the baby's jaws, too, while a finger-snack can bridge the gap until the next proper meal is ready.

• Begin with a raw carrot, an apple slice or a cooked smooth chop-bone: just like a toy, but nicer-tasting than plastic.   

• With practice she learns that she can get food from a crust or zwieback. They will keep her busy and quell her most urgent hunger.  

• Later she will feed herself with cut up finger-foods: much nicer than spoonfuls of lumpy food. Pat her on the back if she gags.  

Preparing Food

At this age all but finger-foods will have to be smoothly pureed. Most babies prefer the texture of heavy cream; a stiffer, mashed-potato texture tends to make them gag. Try to avoid anything which may disgust your baby. A piece of gristle can upset eating for weeks.

Some foods simply need reducing to semi-liquid texture. You can use a blender and adjust the final puree with extra stock, milk or water. Seedy, stringy or very rough-textured foods, like raspberries, cabbage or minced meat, need straining too. A grinder will both liquidize the strain.

Plates, dishes and spoons do not need sterilizing but should be drip-dried (if not machine-washed). Kitchen towels are bacteria-traps. Training cups can trap drops of milk in the spout; wash them carefully and sterilize at least once a day.

Don't open canned foods with the opener you use for cat food! And scald the top of the can with boiling water first. Don't prepare foods with unwashed hands or on a surface you have used for raw meat. Cover cooked food and cool it quickly. If you must serve leftovers, reheat them to full boiling point so that the food is re-sterilized.